UNC Health Care Provides Advanced Nursing Care Innovations Unit

Nurse Manager Angela Overman describes the UNC Health Care Innovations Unit’s mission to provide better, faster, more affordable care through continuous improvements.

Using concepts learned from the bedside, this unit works to provide better, faster, more affordable care to their patients. Carolina Care, Partners in Practice Model was one of their first major accomplishments. This model improved patient satisfaction.

UNC Health Care a winner of the Department of Defense 2014 Freedom Award, appears to be working to improve not only patient care, but it also provides for their employees that serve.

Among the reasons,UNC Health Care was recognized by the Secretary of Defense includes:

• UNC Health Care employees volunteered to maintain a military couple’s house while both were deployed and actively took on extra work responsibilities to support the service of their colleagues.
• The health system recognizes veteran employees and actively recruits military members and their spouses for employment.
• UNC Health Care is currently developing a master’s degree physician assistant program for veteran medics to continue their medical careers after leaving the military.

The UNC Health Care System is a not-for-profit integrated health care system, owned by the State of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. It exists to further the teaching mission of the University of North Carolina and to provide state-of-the-art patient care.

A distinguishing characteristic of UNC Health Care is its association with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, a nationally eminent research institution. This relationship gives UNC Health Care a powerful pathway for moving the results of biomedical research from medical school laboratories to patient care settings.

by Dan Charobee

Sources: UNC Medical Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2014